Alternate Take 2
by kestraTroi7
Summary: At the bar, in 4x09, between Cary and Kalinda, an extension of that scene, because Cary deserves to know more. "Okay, you win. It was the client, Mr Tow-Truck... Mr Savarese."


**I wanted to upload this earlier but I had 4 evil tests :( This is a another quick one, another missing scene, from 4x09. I really think Cary deserved better, and in the bar, with Cary and Kalinda there, I was excited that they would finally talk, but... No. So here it is:**

Kalinda followed Alicia with her eyes before turning to squint at Cary in the semi-darkness, taking in his black eye. "What happened to you?"

"Basketball injury," Cary replied.

"Huh."

"Huh, what? I play basketball." The mock offence in his voice almost made Kalinda smile.

"You know… it's my job to know when people are lying."

Cary laughed. "Oh, Kalinda, I've missed you. Haven't seen you around here for a while…" He paused, scrutinising her face. "Okay, you win. It was the client – Mr Tow-Truck, Mr Saverese. I think he thought I was… gay."

Kalinda visibly stiffened at the client's name. "He beat you up?"

"Nah, not him. One of his associates, I think. But he had something to do with it."

"And you're telling everyone it's from a basketball game?"

He shrugged. "Yeah. I took care of it."

"How?" He could hear the borderline panic in her voice now. Except Kalinda didn't panic.

"Why are you so interested in all this? I thought you didn't care about me anymore."

She leaned towards him slightly. "I care."

"O…kay. Well, I spoke to him."

"What did you say?" The urgency of her tone mounted.

He tried to reassure her gently, "Kalinda, what's going on with you? I'm fine, alright. Everything's fine. After a while he'll lose interest in all this business with the government and he won't be our client anymore." Or so Cary and Alicia were hoping. "So what's wrong?"

There was a long silence. "He didn't beat you up because he thought you were gay," Kalinda spoke almost tentatively.

"Why then? … Did he say something to you? Do you know him or something?" Cary tried to prompt.

"What if I did?"

"I thought there was something weird between you two on the day of the Bishop case." He remembered to occasion, he'd seen a few strained looks over conference tables before as a lawyer, but never any escalation to physical violence.

"Yeah…"

"How do you know him?" She stared vacantly ahead, not seeing or hearing him. "Kalinda? You're not being very helpful."

She looked at him deeply for a moment, as though trying to read his face. Sighing, she shook her head very slightly and drained her glass. "He's… He's my husband."

She watched even more closely for his reaction. He sat there, looking in to the distance, processing the information.

"Seriously? Wow," He mouthed. "I suddenly feel like I've had way too much to drink. Your husband? Honestly? Wow. When? _Since _when?"

"Cary…"

"Yeah…?"

"I'm sorry." Kalinda looked down as she said the words, as though afraid of his reaction to them.

"For what?"

"I didn't warn you that he was dangerous. I told Alicia, but I didn't tell you. And I am sorry that I didn't warn you." Of course she had told Alicia and not him. He bit back his resentment as he could see that for Kalinda, she was exposing herself in a far greater way than he'd ever seen.

"I think it's okay," He sighed. "Really. I can understand why you didn't say anything."

"Cary…" She whispered again. He cut across her.

"But you didn't answer my question. Since when?"

"… A while." Five years? Ten years? He had no idea. And that creep Saverese, you could tell speaking to him that he was no teddy bear.

"Did he hurt you?" Her silence dragged on. "Kalinda, did he hurt you?"

She grabbed another shot and drained it in one. "He used to."

"… You should tell someone," It was all he could think of to say.

"I can't," The finality of her voice frightenened him. "You can if you want, about how he beat you up."

"Why can't you say?"

"There's something else." More unseen truths? Broken promises? Kalinda… who used to be Leela, was it? Her secrets… they were catching up with her at last.

"Does he have something on you?"

"He might." Kalinda looked up at him again at last, holding his gaze. He saw something terribly resembling fear in her eyes.

He tried to figure out whether to reach out and envelop Kalinda in an embrace as he probably would were it any other of his mates. Didn't work like that with Kalinda.

His phone buzzed. A message from Alicia.

_We need you in court -A._

He looked at Kalinda again. He felt bad, leaving her to drink alone. He pushed the thought from his mind. If she wanted, she could have whoever she wanted wrapped around her finger. "I have to get to court. If you need to talk…"

Grabbing his stuff, he reached out to cover her hand with his own for a moment, smiling at her in the dark as she drained her current glass.

"You should tell someone, Kalinda."

**And then Kalinda went home and shot Nick in the head. **

**I hope you liked it. Review?**


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